What's A Podcast? It's 2019 But Everyone Doesn't Know What They Are Yet

I know it sounds crazy to you, the Forbes reader, but not only are podcasts not universally listened to by Americans, only 70% of us (up from 64% in 2018) even know what a podcast is! To put that in perspective and without looking it up I'm just going to assume that roughly 100 percent of Americans have heard of the other more popular forms of digital entertainment that take up our time, namely movies, television, radio, and video games.

Between Spotify buying every podcast company available and the big money spent on the new podcast company Luminary, it seems hard to believe that there are still holdouts to the burgeoning industry but clearly there are some. It seemed appropriate then to talk about some statistics behind podcast listenership and provide an explainer how-to of sorts for those who are new to the party.

What's a Podcast?

So what exactly is a podcast? On a technical level, it's non-music-only audio recorded and saved digitally where it can be listened to anytime, sometimes on a web browser, but usually over a podcast listening app on a mobile device. A podcast often contains music, but unlike a produced musical track it's not the primary function. Podcasts are mostly talking and since people talk to each other every day, it's no surprise that more and more people think about great ideas for podcasts which can be about whatever subject they want.

I talked with Jen Sargent of Wondery and she gave me a great definition: "Podcasts are audio stories that could be current or topical like news or sports and utilize immersive storytelling like the old radio shows. The storytelling uses audio as the medium and utilizes sound design and audio cues to help the listener understand what's happening and make sure they are going to receive the information they need to immerse themselves."

How Do I Find Podcasts?

You can look up keywords in podcast listening apps for nearly every subject you're interested in, and you're sure to find something that matches your interests. Whether it be hunting, cooking, professional wrestling, politics, or even knitting there's a show for you, and many of them have vibrant online communities you can get involved with.

Serial started the current boom of podcasts in 2014 when, according to Wired, iOS 8 for iPhones added the now ubiquitous podcast listening app called simply 'Podcasts', and two weeks later when Serial premiered, everyone with an iPhone could hear the popular true crime drama on the go.

Popular shows like Serial are frequently the means through which casual listeners are introduced to their favorite new podcasts when they are mentioned in other media. The most downloaded programs are usually on podcast networks which often have advertisements for other shows in their network.

Wait What's a Podcast Network?

Most people have a general idea that a television network provides broadcasting time and a huge audience for its programming. You just turn on your tv at the time your show comes on, and there it is. Podcast networks don't have this same advantage as you don't just turn on your podcasting as much as you go to a website or listen on an app. However, on a smaller scale, they have a lot of similarities with their visual medium cousins. Like television networks, podcast networks provide marketing and a greater sense of brand identity and awareness than a show could likely attain on its own. Most podcast networks cultivate shows with similar tones or outlooks that can be easily recommended to their listening audience. Wondery for instance is well known for its true-crime shows like Dirty John and Dr. Death and groups it's programming on its website by categories to make them easily discoverable.

The big podcast networks also function as podcast producers creating top quality content with veteran hosts, actors, writers, sound engineers and the like in order to facilitate the level of polish you would associate with a Hollywood production. This also helps with curation so if there is an untapped audio audience out there that a network thinks would fit in with their style of shows they just create it. Most podcasts on these networks are available on all the major podcast platforms so they can reach the largest audience possible. As Jen Sargent explained to me about Wondery, "We are platform agnostic."

What are Podcast Listening Platforms Again?

Podcast listening platforms are the apps that allow you to listen to your favorite podcast. The Podcast app for iPhone is the most well-known one owing to the name, but there are many others. Overcast, Stitcher, Castbox, Breaker, and Google Podcasts are some popular examples. In the apps, you are presented with a list of podcasts and you can subscribe to them to keep a running list of your favorites and be notified when new episodes are available. You don’t have to subscribe to a show to listen to it, but if you listen and you like it, then go ahead and subscribe. You can always remove it later. And despite the name, many podcast listening apps are designed for Android mobile devices too so fans of high-quality audio of all types can listen in on the phone of their choice.

The iHeartRadio platform offers a different take from the rest in that it allows you to listen to music from iHeart stations all over the country as well as podcasts while promoting their own original content like the Ron Burgundy Podcast featuring Will Ferrell reprising his role from the Anchorman films.

The ability to play, pause, subscribe, and add to a playlist are the most basic things you can do on a podcast listening app, but surprisingly one of the most popular features is speeding up the app to listen faster. In fact, 81 percent of users surveyed said they used this feature and some listeners do this so often that a new term has been coined to describe this subset of hardcore audio junkies - podfasters; they listen to a lot of shows, and they don’t want to miss a thing.

How Much do Podcasts Cost?

Most podcasts are free but like everything else in the digital world, with the weird exception of Netflix, the commercially produced ones are usually add supported. The ads are often read by the hosts of the show and the accompanying style usually matches the tone of the program but sometimes they sound forced as if the listener is being held as a hostage. The good hosts make the ads sound appealing - Bombas socks to warm your feet, Blue Apron food delivery to make cooking easier, and ZipRecruiter to make finding that perfect candidate a snap. I must confess that these ads work so well that last week I purchased a pair of Bombas socks myself.

Some podcast platforms like Stitcher and Castbox have setup paywalls for premium shows and other features like bonus episodes and exclusive content that really caters to their paid audience. New player to the industry Luminary has created a listening app where their premium content is pushed heavily. They advertise 40+ Luminary original shows are coming this year and are accessible ad-free for 7.99 a month with a 30-day free trial.

If none of this information about podcasts was new to you, then thanks for sticking around, but if you're a new or casual podcast listener and wanting to listen more, then I hope this helped. Welcome aboard and happy listening!